


Welcome Home, Brother

by WintersCaptain



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: also this is a little sad but a lot wholesome, in case you didnt know, spoilers for the end of rdr1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-29 07:14:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17803457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WintersCaptain/pseuds/WintersCaptain
Summary: After the final standoff at Beecher's Hope, John rejoins his family.





	Welcome Home, Brother

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jessfreespirit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessfreespirit/gifts).



> For jessfreespirit, who asked for this SO long ago. Thanks, friend! You have beautiful ideas.

He saw the shots. He didn’t feel them at first.

John didn’t process which breath was his last, but the searing, overwhelming pain blinded him all at once to anything beyond experiencing it.

And then it was gone. Replaced with a painlessness he hadn’t experienced since youth. His joints were loose, his muscles unwound, and his body whole.

He opened his eyes, and he startled, hands flying up to his chest and face, not finding holes where he expected about forty. The scars on his face were gone, replaced with the smooth skin of his childhood. He was on his back, on a bedroll, somewhere in a room he didn’t recognize, but familiar nevertheless. When he settled, he breathed in deep and his heart pulled. _Abigail._

_“How many times will I have to bury you, John Marston?”_

He sat up and sighed, dropping his head in his hands. He'd failed. Arthur left him to live with Abigail and Jack, and he ruined it all. All that strife. For nothing. _Goddamn it all, Marston._ The door in the corner, which he hadn’t noticed prior, opened. He looked up, and the air was pulled from his lungs and he rose to his feet all at once.

Arthur Morgan stood before him, well and able-bodied, breathing soundly and with a small smile on his face. He looked a little older than when John met him but not as old as he was the last time John saw him. Maybe twenty-eight, or so. John couldn’t tell how old he himself was at all. He’d have to figure that out at some point.

“Little Johnny Marston,” he said.

The nickname that bothered him in life drew a smile from him in death. “Hey, brother.”

Arthur removed his hat and strode to John, wrapping him in a crushing hug.  “You did well.” The _smell_ of him hadn't changed. Whiskey and gunsmoke, with something John could only describe as desert.

“You’re alright, then?” John stepped back, hands on Arthur’s upper arms, looking him over.

Arthur smiled. “Just fine.”

“Where are we?” He looked around once more, taking in the bare room that seemed inside and outside all at once. It was warm, but not uncomfortable. The plank walls looked aged but freshly built. He recognized the bedroll as his own, but nothing else, what little there was,belonged to him.

He shrugged. “Not sure. Just seems like after. Some of us find it, others don’t.”

Odd answer. “Who’s here?” What did Arthur mean, some don't? Was he supposed to look for this?

John was full of questions, but then again, weren't they all? He certainly had questions for Hosea when he arrived. “Who do you want to see first?” Arthur’s eyes seemed to twinkle, and John knew he had more than one trick up his sleeve.

John thought for a moment, looking at his feet. “I don’t know.” Of all the dead people he knew, there was nobody that immediately came to mind. He'd been so numb to death for so long...

“I know of someone who wants to meet you, bad.”

John’s brow furrowed, and the door opened once more to reveal a little girl with dark hair and dancing eyes. He knelt to the floor, and she ran into his arms. He lifted her, numb with the revelation of it all. She was maybe six or seven, her hair intricately braided down her back. It reminded her of the way Susan would braid Abigail's hair when they traveled from camp to camp, keeping the flyaways out of her eyes.

“Hi, Pa.” She leaned back in his arms and smiled at him, her little hands on his cheeks. He saw Abigail in her smile, and his heart pulled again. Her eyes were his own, dark and deep brown. There was a sweetness in them that reminded him of the dark chocolate Hosea brought him once as a teenager.

“Hey, Rachel.” He peppered her hands with kisses, moving a hand from her back to her hair and holding her close. He looked over her head at Arthur.

“I can’t believe you knew my own kid before I did.” John's jab lacked heat, but the truth behind it kept the smile from reaching his eyes.

Arthur laughed, but his eyes carried the weight. He couldn't resist though, getting one in himself. “That’s happened twice now.”

John rolled his eyes and Rachel giggled. “Shut up. Who else?”

“Everyone.” Arthur held out a hand, and John stepped forward to let him lead him between his shoulder blades, through the door, and into what looked like the Valentine saloon, but cleaner. Rachel curled into him, laying her head in the crook between his neck and shoulder. Her small hand fiddled with the collar of his shirt. He’d never felt warmer. He only missed Abigail.

Hosea sat at a table, Bessie in his lap, laughing at who he could only assume was Annabelle across from her. A shock of red curls fell down her back. She leaned back in her chair, happy and relaxed. Her left hand was outstretched, her pinky and ring finger linked to Susan Grimshaw’s thumb, who was drinking and smoking with none other than Dutch, seated in a chair beside them. Molly was hovering about in better humor than John had ever known her to have in life.

 

 

John stilled when he saw him. He looked the same as the day he met him, in his mid-thirties. Swallowing thickly, he tightened his hold on Rachel. She curled her fist into his collar, and he slowed his breath. _It’s over now._

Arthur watched him take it in, his family whole, save for Abigail. “It took a while for Dutch to find us.”

“You’ve forgiven him?”

Arthur’s lips twisted up, half smile half grimace. “Depends on the day, but there’s not much to worry about here.”

John nodded, his eyes stuck to Dutch. Molly’s eyes found him next, and she offered a smile. Dutch’s eyes followed soon after, dipping his head in a respectful nod.

Hosea noticed him first, his icy blonde hair shining in the warm light of the saloon. He put a hand on Bessie’s waist, drawing her eyes to him as well. “Our boy made it, Bess.”

She rose and crossed to him, arms open. She met him with her hands on his arms, looking him over much like he had with Arthur minutes prior. She smoothed a hand over Rachel’s hair with a fond smile before meeting John’s gaze.

Her smile was warm and kind, and he suddenly understood more about Hosea, and the warmth in his smile after her death. “John, darling. It’s good to meet you.”

“You too, ma’am.”

“Oh none of that,” she waved him off, “Bessie is just fine. Come join us, John.”

She took him by the arm, and he threw a look at Arthur over his shoulder, who just shrugged and laughed. A woman, with a delicate face and dark hair, took his arm, and he looked at her fondly. She kissed his cheek, and he closed his eyes, soaking her in. A little boy trailed at her feet, with Arthur's hair and the woman's eyes. _Eliza. Isaac._

Lenny and Sean wandered over, drinks in-hand, and clapped John on the shoulder.

“Good to see you, John.” Lenny greeted him with a smile.

“Welcome home, brother!” Sean crowed, raising his glass and taking a large sip of his beer.

John was at peace, his family around him.

~***~

Three years later, when it was Abigail’s turn to wake up disoriented, John was there, holding her hand. She’d kissed him desperately, and they both cried.

“I missed you,” he said.

“I love you,” she replied.

He led her to their family, and Rachel was waiting for her in Arthur’s arms.

“There she is!” Arthur’s smile was warm.

Abigail embraced them both, wordlessly.

They were home.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Let me know what you think! I'm always happy to hear feedback about my greasy cowboys and gals. 
> 
> Check out my tumblr here, and my multi-chapter fic here.
> 
> All my love,  
> Tali


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